Football

The naval aviation V-5 physical training manuals were prepared and published during World War II to provide the best standardized instruction in the sports selected to give the youths, training to be combat Naval pilots, the maximum physical and psychological benefits. It was the first time that intensive athletic training was used militarily, not only for conditioning and recreation, but to develop and intensify desired qualities, such as quick reaction, coordination, accurate timing, cool judgment, aggressiveness, and determination. It was, without question, the most rigorous mass program conducted in this country utilizing a large group of different sports. Each cadet was required to spend four to six hours a day in intense athletic training for eight months, the time diminishing in later months as other elements of flight and ground training were added. The results were highly successful as proven by the testimony of the high performance of this group of pilots, and the acclaim given them and the training methods by all who observed.